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UK Government Pushes for More Local Food Labelling

30 September 2015

UK - The government is calling on food producers and shops to give more information on labels about where in Britain their food comes from, as new research shows that almost 80 per cent of people see buying local food as a top priority.

Any provision of extra information would be on a voluntary basis, but compulsory country of origin labelling (CoOL) for fresh and frozen pork, poultry meat and lamb was introduced across the EU in April.

The new research from YouGov highlights that vegetables (51 per cent) and meat (40 per cent) topped the list of products that people would buy if a local option was available, demonstrating the potential to grow the British meat and vegetable industry, worth £10.5 billion in 2014.

Food retailers and producers are already embracing the growing demand for local food, with supermarket Tesco developing a unique tool that allows online shoppers to search for products sourced within 10 miles of their local area.

Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said local labelling, like showing what farm or county the food is from, would help consumers take pride in buying British produce and support a growing rural economy.